He, reflecting God's bright glory and stamped with God's own character, sustains the universe with his word of power; when he had secured our purification from sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high;

He had to resemble his brothers in every respect, in order to prove a merciful and faithful high priest in things divine, to expiate the sins of the People.

For we have had the good news as well as they; only, the message they heard was of no use to them, because it did not meet with faith in the hearers.

Thus if Joshua had given them Rest, God would not speak later about another day.

Thus it was that Abraham by his stedfastness obtained what he had been promised.

For Melchizedek, the king of Salem, a priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham on his return from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him ??2 who had a tenth part of everything assigned him by Abraham ??this Melchizedek is primarily a king of righteousness (that is the meaning of his name); then, besides that, king of Salem (which means, king of peace).

but he who had no Levitical genealogy actually tithed Abraham and blessed the possessor of the promises!

Further, if the Levitical priesthood had been the means of reaching perfection (for it was on the basis of that priesthood that the Law was enacted for the People), why was it still necessary for another sort of priest to emerge with the rank of Melchizedek, instead of simply with the rank of Aaron

For if the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second.

The first covenant had indeed its regulations for worship, and a material sanctuary.

But when Christ arrived as the high priest of the bliss that was to be, he passed through the greater and more perfect tent which no hands had made (no part, that is to say, of the present order),

for after Moses had announced every command in the Law to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, together with water, scarlet wool and hyssop, sprinkling the book and all the people,

Now, while the copies of the heavenly things had to be cleansed with sacrifices like these, the heavenly things themselves required nobler sacrifices.

Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, like the high priest entering the holy place every year with blood that was not his own: ??26 for in that case he would have had to suffer repeatedly, ever since the world was founded. Nay, once for all, at the end of the world, he has appeared with his self-sacrifice to abolish sin.

for you did sympathize with the prisoners, and you took the confiscation of your own belongings cheerfully, conscious that elsewhere you had higher, you had lasting, possessions.

It was by faith that Enoch was taken to heaven, so that he never died (he was not overtaken by death, for God had taken him away). For before he was taken to heaven, his record was that he had satisfied God;

Thus a single man, though he was physically impotent, had issue in number like the stars in heaven, countless as the sand on the seashore.

It was by faith, when Abraham was put to the test, that he sacrificed Isaac, he was ready to sacrifice his only son, although he had received the promises

and had been told that it is through Isaac that your offspring shall be reckoned ??19 for he considered that God was able even to raise men from the dead. Hence he did get him back, by what was a parable of the resurrection.

It was by faith that Moses was hidden for three months after birth by his parents, because they saw the child was beautiful, and had no fear of the royal decree.

It was by faith that Moses refused, when he had grown up, to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;

considering obloquy with the messiah to be richer wealth than all Egypt's treasures ??for he had an eye to the Reward.

It was by faith that Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, as she had welcomed the scouts peaceably.

others, again, had to experience scoffs and scourging, aye chains and imprisonment ??37 they were stoned, sawn in two, and cut to pieces; they had to roam about in sheepskins and goatskins, forlorn, oppressed, ill-treated

God had something better in store for us; he would not have them perfected apart from us.

You have not had to shed blood yet in the struggle against sin.

Why, we had fathers of our flesh to discipline us, and we yielded to them! Shall we not far more submit to the Father of our spirits, and so live?

Never let yourselves be carried away with a variety of novel doctrines; for the right thing is to have one's heart strengthened by grace, not by the eating of food ??that has never been any use to those who have had recourse to it.